<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>a funeral by zagspect</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27570100">a funeral</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/zagspect/pseuds/zagspect'>zagspect</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Cardcaptor Sakura</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, its my city and i get to decide yukitos fake grandparents were lesbians, probably looked like clow cards themselves too, spelling syaoran like xiaolang, takes place between original and clear card. im thinking the boys have just graduated high school</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 20:34:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,949</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27570100</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/zagspect/pseuds/zagspect</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Yukito says goodbye to his grandparents. His loved ones are there for him- his real loved ones. It still hurts.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kinomoto Sakura/Li Syaoran, Kinomoto Touya/Tsukishiro Yukito</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>a funeral</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>another posting of a fic from a little while ago!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They are all there, in the backyard that's far too large for the people who actually live in the house. There's only two of them, ordinarily, and one of them doesn't even take up any extra space.

Now, chairs are set out in a circle around a box piled high with photos, still in frames, notes, throw pillows with cheesy embroidered slogans, souvenir fridge magnets. It's a funeral, in a way.<br/>
<br/>
"Thanks for coming, everyone." says Yukito. "I, um." He's trying to hold back tears. He realizes he's never cried in front of most of these people before, only Touya, and even Touya rarely. First time for everything, he thinks. He's not going to be able to get through this without crying. It's a funeral, after all.<br/>
<br/>
"I know these people didn't exist like we did," and there it is, the first tear rolling down his cheek just by admitting it. Touya, sitting next to him, puts a gentle hand on his back. "But I still think they deserve a proper goodbye. I knew them, in a way. I talked to them a little, um, before you all got here, just myself. but I thought we could all say something, if..... you had something to say."<br/>
<br/>
Everything with the magic in it had to go. It ran too deep, uncaring whether Yukito knew the truth or not, making his head spin if he looked too long at anything. Besides.....he wanted to do this. He needed it, to treat this loss like any other. Like a 'real' death. It <em>is</em> real, to him. He stands up, pulls a square of paper out of his pocket.<br/>
<br/>
"Yue couldn't make it here. Obviously," he adds, gesturing to himself, and a small laugh goes through his audience. Yukito smiles a little as well, unfolding his square. "But he's listening in, and he gave me a note to read. He says, <em>'Clow loved all of his creations. Your grandparents were given full lives, hobbies, loved ones. They could not have asked for more.'</em> "<br/>
<br/>
He sits down again, head in his hands. Touya's hand is on his back again, and Kero pads over holding a box of tissues awkwardly in his teeth. Touya, next to speak, doesn't stand up. That would mean taking his hand off of Yukito for a moment, and Yukito's not sure he could handle that.<br/>
<br/>
"I knew they weren't quite people all along," Touya says, "But it didn't bother me. They seemed good to you, and you always talked about them lovingly. If they ever become ghosts- and, i mean, it's not out of the question, weirder things have happened- I'm sure they'll be proud of you." He hugs Yukito to end his little speech.<br/>
<br/>
Tomoyo didn't quite know them, and neither did Xiaolang. Sakura and Kero look uncertainly at each other for silent permission to go next, when- Touya grimaces a bit as everyone who's still got magic sense in them whirls around a moment before they hear the knock on the side of the house.<br/>
<br/>
"May I?" asks Eriol. He's alone, dressed all in black flowing robes for the occasion, with matching wizard's hat. Everyone else feels a little underdressed in comparison. He takes a step forward while no one responds, which breaks the stillness.<br/>
<br/>
"<em>Absolutely not.</em>" growls Kero. "You're the whole reason-"<br/>
<br/>
"It's okay." Yukito says, a steadying hand on Kero's wing. "He can say something too."<br/>
<br/>
Eriol smirks at Kero for just a moment too long before arranging his face back into something appropriately somber. He walks to the center of the circle, runs a hand over the nearest photo.<br/>
<br/>
"The Moon," he says sadly. "The Rabbit." Yukito gasps at this. He did not realize they had names, realizes it's only now that he even noticed that was odd at all. They were always, to him, just 'my grandparents', or 'your grandparents' as told to him by others.<br/>
<br/>
"I have never made a creation without eternity in mind. I never could have foreseen a future with this sort of loss, especially from a concept that was never even brought forth to life. You did your job brilliantly. Rest in peace.", and at that last bit, he bends down to kiss the corner of a photo frame and taps his staff gently on the ground. A wind rushes out from the tap, rustling the bushes around the yard, and then the box is just a box. Sakura cries a little, and Xiaolang squeezes her hand and looks away. Tomoyo puts an arm around her shoulders.<br/>
<br/>
Eriol nods at Yukito, then turns and walks out without another word.<br/>
<br/>
"He <em>is</em> sad about it." mumbles Kero.<br/>
<br/>
Yukito hovers somewhere between shock and anger and relief- even he can tell something is missing from the box, now. Some warmth, some reminder of memories Yukito could point to and say <em>yes, that's Grandma, from that time we all went to the beach.</em> Which is good- it's why they're all here to bury them- but how <em>dare</em> Eriol take his grandparents fully away from him.<br/>
<br/>
He rethinks this as Kero steps up to speak next, and Sakura takes a moment to compose herself. <em>Ohhh</em>, so he was going to bury them alive, wasn't he? He was, in a way. So Eriol spared them from that. And now- <em>"If they ever become ghosts"</em>, Touya had said, and you can't be a ghost without dying. Touya was right, weirder things <em>have</em> happened.<br/>
<br/>
Yukito looks over at Sakura, who's finished up crying to take her cards out from her pocket, put her hands over them in silent conversation. Kero taps on the box like it's a microphone.<br/>
<br/>
"Well, I can't say i'm not a little disappointed with you," he says to the now-dead box. He's trying to sound gruff, but his voice wavers anyway. "It's a little twisted to make somebody believe a lie that elaborate. But that hasn't stopped my sympathy before, I guess." He rubs his face against a corner of it.<br/>
<br/>
"So good job out there, in your weird way."<br/>
<br/>
Sakura is the last to speak, and does so sitting to not disturb a lap full of cards.<br/>
<br/>
"Your house always felt homey, and warm." she says. "I always felt welcome here, from the very first time I walked in. That's 'cause of you, but also because you felt so comfortable here. So...." she nods to the box. "Thank you, Yukito's grandparents, for helping him feel that way."<br/>
<br/>
She pauses a moment, concentrating.<br/>
<br/>
"And, the cards want to say..... they'd like it if The Earthy could be the one to bury them. They feel....." she squints a moment, tilts her head with a hand on the back of the deck. Yukito wonders what they're trying to express- is it a family connection, or something more distant? A sense of pity for people who could've been like them, people who never quite made it?<br/>
<br/>
"They feel... responsible." sakura says finally, and Kero nods knowingly. "But like, more. It's hard to say it exactly. They didn't know them, but they want to do this."<br/>
<br/>
Yukito nods, stands up.<br/>
<br/>
"Thank you," he says. He's not quite sure where to look- at Sakura? At the cards? "You can go ahead, if everyone can back up a bit-"<br/>
<br/>
Everyone does, folds their chairs and gives Sakura room to work. She calls The Earthy along with The Flower, and the two of them wrap around the box gently, sinking it into the earth, covering the spot in a lush patch of flowers. It looks like the beginnings of a garden. Maybe he <em>should</em> take up gardening. He could spend time with his grandparents- <em>real</em> time, the way the Kinomotos say good morning to their mother's photographs- <em>and</em> have homemade salads. <br/>
<br/>
They all stand around for a little while, until Tomoyo, who'd been unusually quiet throughout the ceremony, speaks up.<br/>
<br/>
"Can I show you something? Inside?"<br/>
<br/>
The others all give knowing smiles at each other and Yukito follows them in, follows them to...his table, where everyone starts unloading large shopping bags. There's paint, like for a house, but craft paint too. Photo frames, fresh and empty, with little beads and glitter glue. Tomoyo places envelopes of developed photos in stacks on the table.<br/>
<br/>
"No rush," says Touya. "This is here for you to have whenever you want it. But we couldn't just let you have a sad empty house forever."<br/>
<br/>
"I have <em>so</em> many pictures of you," Tomoyo says, the rush of excitement over her hobby bringing a smile back to her face. The smile is catchy, and Yukito returns it. "-And Yue too! He's not forgotten!"<br/>
<br/>
Kero nudges Xiaolang in the elbow.<br/>
<br/>
<em>"and,"</em> Kero prompts. Xiaolang rolls his eyes, but takes a smaller envelope out of a bag he's holding.<br/>
<br/>
"And, I dug up some old photos of Kero and the cards from back in the day, that my family had, and Kero wants Yue to have a few up. There aren't any of Yue, unfortunately-"<br/>
<br/>
"-Because of the whole '<em>keep him off the record historically so judgement can be a surprise</em>' thing," Kero butts in, "and <em>just for that</em> I told him not to bring ANY pictures of Clow either, 'cause after a stunt like <em>that</em>- I mean, there's lots of reasons to hate on the guy, but let it go on the record that I am <em>specifically</em> mad on Yue's behalf right now, so the next time he tells you I only care about myself-"<br/>
<br/>
"-But, it's still here if you want.", Xiaolang finishes, and slides the envelope across the table to Yukito. this time, Yukito tells himself, he won't cry. He's done quite enough of crying in front of people for the next week, the next few years, even.<br/>
<br/>
"Not the paint, not yet..." he says slowly. It's too much all at once. "But if we could prepare things, start setting up..."<br/>
<br/>
The group is cheerier after that. The doorbell rings, and to Kero's loudly squealed delight, somebody has ordered in food, probably Touya. They sit around the table eating and chatting about past times- the <em>real</em> past, the last three years - do you remember when you ate all of Sakura's strawberries and she was too embarassed to say anything, do you remember trying out for the soccer team, practicing for the school play. The past even when he hadn't known it- that time Yue got stuck in Sakura's house for a whole day, that time (and this is told to Yukito in an embarassed croak) Yue rejected Xiaolang so Yukito would be spared the awkward moment. <br/>
<br/>
They pick out photos, put them into frames. Yukito's never seen Yue so clearly before. He's beautiful, and looks different than Yukito was expecting- not so much just 'Yukito in a costume' as a whole separate person, hight aside. It makes Yukito feel a little better, in an odd way. A little more unique. He wonders how Yue feels about all this. He can't sense it that clearly (yet, because Yukito has a feeling this might be a skill they can learn), but he can set out a notebook and ask when they're alone. He sets aside Yue's photos for Yue to pick out later, not to be hung up until he gets to look at them himself. Yue gets a say in the house, too, Yukito decides. It's about time. If there's any truth to the dramatic stories Kero's telling the kids about the Good But Bad But Still Good Old Days, then Yue really needs it.<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
There will be magic in this house again, but not like before. Already, there is a feeling of being surrounded by loved ones, by family. This time, it'll last.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>